Owl Theater
Lebanon,
KS
66952
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This theater was in tiny town of Lebanon, Kansas at least from 1921 and during the mid-1930’s. It’s chief attraction for me was that its manager (owner?) Gladys E. McArdle regularly provided terrific little movie reviews to the Motion Picture Herald’s "WHAT THE PICTURE DID FOR ME" column during much of the later 1930’s.
It was still operating in 1950, but a closing date is not known at the moment.
Contributed by
G.D. Hamann
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
In the summer of 2009 I didn’t have this list. I searched around and didn’t find anything that looked like it might be a theater, but I found something else of interest. In the middle of the intersection, as often done in small Kansas towns, there was a community bulletin board with a hand-drawn poster advertising “Movie tonight behind Bob’s Barber Shop.” Behind Bob’s was a building with a white wall which is where the movie was projected. The movie was free and you could purchase concessions. An old-timer told me these summer open-air screenings had been going on for a long time. He said at one time farmers would come into town and the few stores would stay open till midnight.
In addition to her terse reviews of films Gladys E. McArdle was not adverse to resorting to stunt advertising. When Granny Get Your Gun played she encouraged women to show up with guns, toy or real. More details on this appear in the excerpt from the biography of Laird Cregar: A Hollywood Tragedy (page 41) which I have uploaded.
Also uploaded an image of an ad for the Owl which appeared in the May 31, 1921 Lebanon Times.